Elsa Dress

My daughters been asking for Elsa and Ana costumes ever dance she saw Disney's 'Frozen'.  I was feeling extra ambitious this weekend and decided to take on Elsa's ice queen dress.

I started by finding a pattern that had a similar style to the look I wanted. I found McCalls' pattern #5499. Option B with out the belt seemed to fit with the metal picture of what I wanted. 

Dress fabrics were on sale so I got 40% off of both of these fabrics. I really loved the the light color fabric because it had a bit of a texture on the front and wasn't as slippery as a regular satin, therefore making it much easier to sew with. Plus it kinda reminded me of the way ice looks. The sheer material with the sparkles would create the shawl behind the dress.

I layer out the pattern pieces making it a 7/8 (even though my daughter is only wearing a 5) giving her plenty of room to grow and still use the dress. I did make sure I cut it much shorter than the given pattern length. Tripping over dress hems in dress up shoes is not fun!

To create a more authentic Elsa look I made the sleeves white. 

Here are a few of the cut out pieces laid together. It is already starting to look good!

I cut sleeves long and then measured them to the length of her arm. Then I cut them at an angle.

After 6+ princess dresses I have learned that having this inside bodice part is essential to having a good looking dress up dress. The trick to keep it from popping up and flipping out while the kiddos are getting dresses is to use a little fabric fuser to adhere them down.

One other change I made to the pattern. I added velcro for quick kid friendly dress up. (The pattern called for a lace up back.)

Next, I had to figure out how to get sparkly "cape" on. Had I thought ahead I could've put it in between the two panels and had is sewn right in, but I was past that. So for a dress up costume a bit of a heat activated fuser on each of the sides would do the trick. (My grandma used to call it stitch-witch and it is a bit magical if I do say so!)

This a picture of it before the final surging of the sleeves and bottom hem. 

Here is a picture of the back. The cape/shawl dips down so it is easy to step in and out of. The only places it adheres to the costume is in the front. I cut it into 4 panels and then sewed them together. This gives in the look of a flaring out without begin too long and causing her to trip or to drag behind her.

Another tip. I have learned that when sewing dress up clothes a Surger is a must! I put 90% of this together with a surger. This keeps the satiny fabric from unraveling and it cuts the work in half.

Final product compared with the 'real' Elsa. 

I would say this was a success. The pattern was very simple and the whole thing only took a few hours over the course of 2 days. 

Have you made a princess costume? I'd love to see some other homemade princess dresses.